Record Store Day 2012 is go!

Public Image Limited and Orbital played a secret gig in London’s Shoreditch last night (Monday, March 19) to announce Record Store Day 2012.

The now annual celebration of independent record shops will take place on Saturday, April 21. And, like previous years, there will be a number of limited edition vinyl releases only available on the day to encourage music fans to buy physical formats and support their local record shop.

“The destruction of the music industry is because people can't buy record s easily,” said Public Image Limited frontman John Lydon. “A record is for life. A download is a lack of life. A poor substitute for a real wife!"

“Record Store Day has now become an established part of the music calendar,” said Record Store Day coordinator Spencer Hickman of Rough Trade Records. “And what makes it special is the character and individuality of record stores. There’s nothing to beat the enthusiasm and atmosphere of a great record shop!”

Public Image Limited will release their new EP, One Drop, on Record Store Day – the band’s first new material for 18 years. Other artists also set to issue limited edition vinyl releases on Record Store Day include: Bat For Lashes, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Howard, Bombay Bicycle Club, Chiddy Bang, Coldplay, CSS, Garbage, Gorillaz, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, Kate Bush, Katy Perry, Noah And The Whale, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Richard Hawley, Sigur Ross, Simple Minds, The Beatles, The Futureheads, Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess, Twin Atlantic, Two Door Cinema Club and The Vaccines.

“As a music retailer I have to say for me Record Store Day is the most exciting event of the whole year,” says Paul Quirk, Chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association. “I cannot believe how it has grown over the last few years and also how the retailers and the public have embraced it. Each year it moves up another level and I am sure 2012 will be the best ever”.

There are currently 206 independent record shops participating in Record Store Day – 197 in the UK and nine in Ireland. To find a store near you, log on to www.recordstoreday.co.uk.

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